


Worlds Collide

by Ellstra



Series: White coats, Stage boards [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 05:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12006132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellstra/pseuds/Ellstra
Summary: Armitage Hux meets a peculiar boy in a shopping mall. They get stuck in a lift together.





	Worlds Collide

**Author's Note:**

> The name for this fic comes from the album by Dead By April  
> Check the end notes for some warnings.  
> Huge thanks to my beta [Phil!](http://boredbyreality.tumblr.com/)

Armitage stared out of the window, nose pressed against the glass. It was cold but he didn’t pull away. His breath condensed into an uneven circle of white vapour, and he knew he’d have to wash the window properly once he was done staring at the rain and brooding. One of the lenses of his glasses got fogged up as well and he pulled back, annoyed, to clean them with his shirt. 

He shivered when the shirt hiked up above his waist as he tugged at it and his lower back was exposed. The rain grew even stronger, the water now hitting the window with violent force. Hux stood up to put on a sweater, and he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. 

_ A future doctor,  _ he thought, trying to see the difference between a high-schooler and someone recently accepted into medical school. He didn’t think he saw any - he was still too thin, still just a tad too tall, still looking gay. He wondered if people in med school would be civil enough not to point the fact out to him, like he didn’t know himself. Probably not. 

He picked up the yellow sweater from where he’d dropped it the day before. It was a horrendous transgression and his father only allowed it in the euphoria of Hux receiving the acceptance letter. He didn’t feel the exhilaration he supposed he should be feeling, seeing everyone else’s reaction, and it made him feel like a fraud. He wasn’t happy to be accepted - it was never a dream of his. It was simply something that was supposed to happen, an item on his to-do list, like going shopping or returning his books to the library on time. He wanted to feel like he accomplished something, but he was hollow. The closest thing to an emotion was relief that he didn’t turn out to be a failure. 

He collected his keys and wallet and picked up the car keys from their usual place on the small hook by the front door. It was his turn to go grocery shopping, the sticky note with the list written in his father’s neat but hardly legible script in the back pocket of his slacks. 

He got a driver’s license the first chance he could, although he had to pay the older brother of his classmate to drive with him as he learned. He got the motorcycle license first, at sixteen, to get a whiff of self-reliance, even if he had no bike. His father soon realized the perks of it, and bought a small scooter so that Hux could run errands for him. Hux didn't mind; it made him feel important and allowed him to get out of the house.

He was wet even after walking the small distance between the door and the car. He sat behind the steering wheel, throwing his small bag on the other seat and wiping his glasses on his sweater. He couldn't wait to go to college where he would be away from his father’s constant supervision and he’d finally be able to get contact lenses. Neither his sweater, nor his shirt, were of a material ideal for glass-cleaning, and there were still blotches on the lenses. His father always told him he should carry the glasses cleaning cloth but Armitage found it infuriating. He sighed and started the car. 

He set out before the afternoon rush hour so the traffic was quite agreeable. He sang along with the radio when he knew the lyrics, and tapped his fingers on the wheel in rhythm of the song when he didn't.

He didn't take long with shopping. He went to the small shops first, to get his father his favourite brand of tea, his medication, and some meat at the butcher’s, whom Hux’s father deemed less of ‘a stealing wanker trying to feed us flour instead of meat’ than the supermarket. For all Hux knew, the meat in the supermarket was cheaper than the butcher’s, so he didn't really know what the deal with the stealing was, but it was one of those opinions he had but didn't say out loud. There was simply no need to oppose his father, as there was no way of changing his opinion, but Hux enjoyed his little moments of rebellion even if they were silent. 

He took comfort in the dull sameness of the supermarket. He didn't have anything special to buy so he took his usual route - vegetables, pastry, dairy, muesli for breakfast. He chose a cash desk with a young girl with a pitiful case of acne, and he waited patiently for the customers before him to pay. The man in front seemed to have never been to a shop before. He was holding a bag but he just watched the groceries fall from the cashier’s hands, seemingly waiting for a sign from above before he started putting them away. Hux rolled his eyes. If there was something that irritated him beyond measure, it was stupid people. He supposed he inherited that from his father. 

Finally he was beyond the cash desk. He made his way to the lift, navigating the heavy shopping cart awkwardly. He waited for the lift alongside a boy roughly his age who looked like he slept in a ditch last night. Hux stared at his hands on the cart, trying to avoid any kind of interaction with the boy. The lift arrived and Hux nearly ran the cart over the boy's foot.

“Jesus, watch out,” the boy hissed. 

“I didn't expect you to be quite so vehement about getting inside.” 

“Weirdo,” the boy muttered and Hux pretended he didn't hear it. He wasn’t in the mood for a fight, much less with someone whose argument to anything would probably be either “whatever” or “fuck off.”

The door closed behind them and Hux hit the button to the parking lot. The boy leaned all the way over Hux’s cart and pressed the button with the number 2 on it. He smelled faintly of weed and sweat. Hux scrunched his nose.  _ Well of course.  _ He was probably sporting a nipple piercing beneath his hoodie. 

“It's going down,” Hux pointed out despite his previous resolution. 

“And then up,” the boy shrugged, “I'm not in a hurry.” 

Hux opened his mouth to tell him it would have stopped at the first underground floor on its way up but he stayed silent. From the way the boy’s eyes sparkled, he knew it just as well as Hux, and was looking for the opportunity to start a fight. 

The lift started up, began to move, and then stopped so abruptly Hux's stomach did a somersault. He looked at the boy with panicked eyes and was met with equal surprise. Hux hit the button that opened the door but it was useless, as he expected. 

“Are we stuck?” the boy asked dumbly. Red hot anger flared up inside Hux. He knew he was being irrational but he was also pissed to be there. He wouldn't get home soon enough to tidy up his room before his father arrived, and he'd get scolded for it. And he really hated stupid questions. 

“What do you think, Sherlock?” he hissed. He hit the button with the yellow bell on it, his heart racing. Great. A fucking phone call. What will be next? 

“I think you're being a jerk,” the boy shrugged. 

“Well I'm sorry I'm not thrilled to be stuck in a lift with you,” Hux spat. The panel on the wall was beeping like a phone that demanded to be answered. Hux felt each of the tones like a nail to his heart. His brain rang an alarm bell and his pulse quickened. They were in a small space with hardly any way to escape and nobody knew he was there. Hux wished he'd accepted the mobile phone his father had offered him. 

“What's that supposed to mean?” the boy frowned. Hux had forgotten what they were talking about.

“What?”

“What did you mean when you said you weren't happy to be here with me?” the boy elaborated. He looked offended but Hux didn't have enough functioning brain capacity left to analyze his words for the fine nuances of human interaction. 

“Well are  _ you _ happy to be here?” he muttered, “because if you are, good for you, but I want out.”

“Well yeah, but you made it sound like  _ I  _ was the problem, not the lift.”

“Jesus Christ,” Hux sighed dramatically. The phone was still echoing dully through the small space. The light above flickered - the boy gasped - but it didn’t go out. The panel on the wall crackled and then a pleasant voice addressed them.

“Hello, may I help you?”

“I don't know, can you?” the boy sneered. Hux elbowed him in the ribs. 

“We're stuck in the lift beside the supermarket in Peach Trees,” he told the person, speaking slowly to be understood. 

“How many of you are there?” 

“Two,” Hux said, wondering if the operator was trying to put the blame for it on them.

“Do you have something to eat and drink?” 

Hux looked at the shopping cart with his groceries. “Yes. Although I'd prefer to get out of here before I need to eat something.”

“Of course. I'm sending someone to deal with the situation, you will be out in no time. One last thing I need to know - when you look between the doors, can you see light?”

Hux's companion was at the door before Hux could move, studying it. He took off his hood, pressed his eye against the interstice, and Hux could see his profile clearly without it. He had a piercing in his ear and Hux supposed it sort of suited him, as much as he loathed to admit it. 

The boy straightened up and shook his head, but he didn't pull the hood back up. 

“No,” Hux translated.

“Which floor were you last at?” 

“First underground, going down.”

“Okay, thank you. Someone will be with you shortly. There is no need to panic.”

“Uh-huh,” Hux mumbled noncommittally, and the line went silent. He looked up at the flickering light above and sighed. 

“Well, this is not how I expected to spend my afternoon,” the boy shrugged.

“Me neither,” Hux huffed, trying to control his tone. His companion looked like he’d punch Hux if the idea as much as crossed his mind, and Hux wasn't going to inspire it if he could help it. 

He didn't get an answer, and he watched in horror as the boy rolled himself a cigarette - expertly, as far as Hux could tell, which meant he wasn't new to this - and lit it with a match. Hux watched his hands work, quickly and effectively, and wondered in how many beneficial activities other than rolling cigarettes they could be used. 

“Are you even old enough to smoke?” Hux asked.

“Are you old enough to be so boringly patronizing?” 

Hux scoffed, and sputtered as he was met by a cloud of smoke. 

“It wouldn't hurt you to learn basic manners,” he said, telling himself it was to save his moral high ground and defend his point. 

“Maybe I only use my manners with people who don’t sound like prudish snobs,” the boy said.

“Manners aren’t supposed to be exclusive. Either you’re a bumpkin or you’re a decent person,” Hux continued, not giving up, “or you’re a reckless idiot smoking in already stuck lifts.”

“Give me a break,” the boy scoffed and took a long drag of his cigarette, “what's going to happen? Will I get a note sent home?”

Hux could think of several things that could happen, from the most imminent like the lift catching fire to more elusive ones like lung cancer, but he kept them to himself. He knew that was what was expected of him. 

“No answer? I thought you were a better little student than this.”

Hux pretended to study the ad on the wall of the lift.

“What are those fancy clothes for even? Law school?”

“Grocery shopping,” Hux muttered with a hint of satisfaction. His joy didn't last very long though. 

“I bet you went to a fucking private school,” the boy spat around his cigarette, like someone asked him for his opinion, “not Eton though. I bet you think Eton is too notorious.”

Hux did think that, incidentally. He'd met several boys from there who were definitely too full of themselves - or rather, full of Eton. He wasn’t going to admit that. It was a peculiar insult, many-layered so that he got caught up in it trying to respond. 

“But you, you didn’t go to school at all, judging by your behaviour,” Hux muttered. The boy had sat down cross-legged on the floor, not paying attention to how his mud-covered boots stained his ripped trousers. Hux tried not to stare at the bony knee visible between threads. 

“Oh, quite the contrary,” the boy shrugged, “I went to Eton myself. Dreadful uptight place full of old wankers, if you ask me.” 

“You. Went to Eton.” Hux repeated dully, squinting at the boy who looked like he considered doing laundry to be beneath him.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to take my word for it. I burnt my uniform when I ran away,” the boy said, “I’m sorry, I’m forgetting my education. Would you like a smoke?”

“I don’t smoke,” Hux said, and for the first time in his life, he didn’t feel steadfastly superior to people who smoked. He still found it disgusting, but the boy made it sound like he was uneducated if he never even tried it. Hux wondered if this was the peer-pressure he was warned about. He never really had friends and his peers feared him too much to try to break his convictions. This boy didn't seem to have such reservations; if anything, he appeared to find Hux amusing if a little awkward. Such treatment puzzled Hux and he didn't know how to react. 

“I wasn't born a smoker either,” the boy pointed out with a shrug. 

“Good for you.”

“I learned to smoke at school. You know the more posh the school pretends to be, the more depraved the kids are. I was actually pretty well-behaved.”

“I find that hard to believe.

“I never did hard drugs. I waited until I was sixteen before I blew my classmate on the toilet. I ditched school completely before I’d start skipping classes.” 

“Are you expecting a medal for it?” Hux asked. He tried not to look too shocked by the boy’s casual mention of having had sex with another boy. He shouldn’t be shocked, all things considered.  

“Did I shock you? Did you have a different image of Eton, like my mother did?” The boy didn't have anywhere to put the ash from the cigarette, so he just smoked it as it was, waiting for the stub to fall off. Armitage felt silly standing while his companion was leaning against the wall, legs casually outstretched in front of him. “You know, they encourage the blowjobs in the toilet. It's not official of course - wouldn't want to offend the public - but they don't punish it unless you rub it in their faces too much. Or if you show any romantic inclination towards your hook-ups."

Hux didn't really know what to say to that but he didn't suppose the boy needed prompting. He wasn't sure if he believed a single part of the story, but it took his mind off being stuck in a lift. 

“They think it will quell our curiosity and desire to experiment and that we'll be released into the wild as honourable members of the heterosexual society,” the boy grimaced, “I can't say it worked in my case.”

“Oh really?” Hux sneered, “I wouldn't have guessed.” 

“All of us can't be outstanding scholars like you.”

“What makes you think I am?” Hux wondered if maybe he had his grades written on his forehead. Or if he accidentally went shopping in his school uniform. He considered that a possibility because it had happened before. 

“You just look like it,” the boy shrugged, “a good mama’s boy who never gets into trouble.” 

“You're wrong,” Hux mumbled, voice hollow, and he looked away to hide his expression. 

“What, did you get into trouble? Handed your homework over only two days before deadline?”

“No,” Hux muttered, “there’s no mama.”

Silence stretched out between them, heavy and tense. Hux stared at the box of cereal on top of the heap in his shopping cart without seeing the words. 

“Oh shit, I'm sorry,” the boy blurted out suddenly. “I didn't mean to.”

“It's okay. You couldn't have known, and it's a fair assumption based on my exterior.”

“No it's not. I mean it is but-” the boy trailed off, embarrassed, “I shouldn't just judge you for what you look like. I know I hate it when people do it.”

“I bet they think you smoke weed and beat up kids,” Hux snickered. 

“Yeah, but that's mostly true. What offends me is that they think I'm dumb.”

“You don't seem dumb to me,” Hux pointed out. “You're a vagabond but a clever one. I suppose you haven't been doing drugs long.”

“Thank you. I'll take the compliment and magnanimously ignore the insult,” the boy grinned. Hux was trying to prevent himself from falling in love with this boy just because he knew the word magnanimous. The boy was still smiling warmly, his teeth crooked and a little too small for his mouth. The scent of the cigarette clung to his clothes and hair, but Hux didn't find it as disgusting as he usually did. He supposed it was one of the less obnoxious brands. The boy had awkwardly big ears which poked from his hair, and Hux didn't know if it was adorable or unfortunate. 

And just then, the lift started moving again. The pair of them looked at each other. They sighed in relief as it stopped and the inner door opened. The boy pushed the outer one. 

“Looks like we're safe now,” he said and held the door for Hux, who slipped out of the lift with his shopping cart. 

“Well, thank you for keeping me company. Your story was very enlightening.”

“I'm glad I entertained you. Take care of yourself, you might have to.”

“Don't smoke so much. It might kill you,” Hux grinned.

“I'll think of you every time I light a cigarette,” the boy promised and pulled his hood back up before turning around and disappearing around a corner. Hux looked after him, only now realising he never got the boy’s name. He supposed it was part of his charm. He sighed and made his way to his car. Checking his watch, he made a promise to himself to take the stairs next time. It would be good for his heart. 

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings: Kylo smokes in this and it's not clear how old he is, so technically it might not be underage, or it might | Brendol is a dick to Armitage but it's not that bad here | It's probably not safe to smoke in lifts pls don't do that
> 
> There's a moodboard for this fic [here!](http://ellstra.tumblr.com/post/165021554057/armitage-hux-meets-a-peculiar-boy-in-a-shopping#notes)  
> As always, thanks for reading! You can find me on [tumblr](http://ellstra.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/EllstraH)!


End file.
